Highway 135 Youth Sports Complex continues to be community effort

BY MEREDITH SHAMBURGER | mshamburger@kilgorenewsherald.com

KILGORE NEWS HERALD ARCHIVE

By the time this issue of Etcetera goes to press, the City of Kilgore will be gearing up for a groundbreaking ceremony for major renovation work at the Highway 135 Youth Sports Complex.

It’s the culmination of a yearslong process. The city first began to develop a master plan for the park in 2018, began discussing renovation plans in 2019, got sidetracked by the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2023 finally OK’d a contract for work to begin.

City officials from the beginning were committed to the improvements.

“We’re willing to come in, take ownership, put a massive investment into these facilities then hand it back to them to operate,” Kilgore City Manager Josh Selleck said in a 2019 News Herald article. “This is different from how most cities do this. Honestly, though, we think it’s the best of both worlds.

“You’ve got the passion of the parents to take care of the leagues and the facility, and you have the assistance of the city to build it without requiring a long-term tax commitment to maintain it, which can sometimes be more costly.”

That sense of community spirit has been there since the park’s establishment in the mid-1990s to serve both the Kilgore Youth Softball Association and the Kilgore Soccer Association..

The planned groundbreaking coincides with a big anniversary: 2023 is the 30th anniversary of the Kilgore Youth Softball Association first using the sports complex and their 40th anniversary as a nonprofit organization.

“KSA closes season with ceremony; ushers in new era at Sports Complex” was the headline of a 1995 article, and what’s notable is not what was said (very little was reported about speeches given), but instead who was there: The people who helped make the complex a reality.

“April 15 may have served as the closing ceremonies for the Kilgore Soccer Association, but it also marked a grand opening at the same time.

Ceremonies and the final games for the spring campaign were held at the Kilgore Youth Sports Complex, located just off Highway 135.

The Sports Complex, a joint venture of the Kilgore Soccer Association and the Kilgore Youth Softball Association, has already expanded from the original 9 acres to 45, according to Steve Brown, president of the Kilgore Youth Sports Complex association.

Brown, who addressed those in attendance, boasted of the new facility and recognized the board members, James Repasky, Scooter Huckabee, Tommy Gooch, Tom Sartor, M.L. Carlton, Ricky Beets and Kenny Mobbs.

Approximately 375 boys and girls ranging in age from 6-19 years old participated on 28 teams.

The fall season at the Maude Laird Middle School soccer fields attracted 419 boys and girls on 33 teams, 10 of which qualified for the Tournament of Champions in the Metroplex last December.

Among those introduced at the ceremonies by KSA board president Repasky were Anne Hale, first vice president; Carlton, second vice president; Cheryl Clower, secretary; and Rocco DeSantis, treasurer; directors Rachel Wood, James Bell, Brown, John Kulak, Huckabee, Doug Swaim and Brian Weaver; referee coordinator Doug Smith; and commissioners Latrisha Pennington, Sam Weaver, Dale Jordon, Sherry Reeher, Chris Raymond, John Kulak and Tony Beason…”

The joy of the day was evident. News Herald reporter Buck Ringgold, writing in the May 21, 1996 edition of the paper, recalled the Kilgore Soccer Association ending its first full season at the new sports complex.

“What I remember the most about that was some of the kids were still playing on the fields as the closing ceremonies were about to begin,” he wrote. “It was as if they didn’t want the season to end, they just wanted to get their kicks in a little bit longer.”

When the Kilgore Youth Softball Association opened its season the following May, both then-KYSA President Steve Brown and then-District 34 state softball commissioner Lugene Rogers spoke. “Rogers told the crowd that she was impressed with the new complex and would also try to make a bid for Kilgore to host a state tournament in the near future,” the News Herald reported.

WHAT’S NEW

Here’s what the city approved back in March at the sports complex, as described by Parks & Facilities Director Keith Yorgason:

“The first $700,000 of the $1 million budget would be spent on lighting. Four new light poles around the soccer fields and 12 new poles around the softball fields will be replacing the old lighting system. This will include three security lighting modules to help light up the parking lots.

“Field 1 is going to be pushed out to make room for a competition-sized field,” he said. “That’ll be a brand new baseball field from the ground up. That will be $160,000. The remaining $140,000 is going to be a contingency for the remaining three fields. In conjunction with the Kilgore Youth Sports Association, we’re going to do our best to make the most of that money. It will go towards Field 3’s backstop repair, fence repair and replacement and also irrigation repair and replacement as that comes up and as that’s necessary.”